Animal Magic at Wildlife Centre

Four and five year olds from Reception class at Chilton Primary in Ramsgate explored Wingham Wildlife Centre as part of their first every school trip.

A mini adventure has led children aged four and five to experience the amazing world of wildlife at first hand.

They were able to investigate a range of animals safely yet at close quarters, including bears, lemurs, chimps, tigers, bats and penguins.

The trip was the conclusion of their topic work learning about farms.

This has included creating farm collage pictures; learning where we get our food from and tasting different produce that gets made on farms.

They even made their own bread and found out about the different food we get from animals.

And the trip to Wingham with its scaled dinosaur replicas was also the starting point for their next adventure – the world of prehistoric creatures.

Head of Early Years at Chilton is Assistant Head of School Hannah Cheshire. She said:

“We will be learning dinosaur facts to put in non-fiction books.

We will also make a short information film about dinosaurs that we will show to parents. As part of our Maths learning, the children will compare the sizes of dinosaur footprints and put them in order. We will also measure them as well as making our own dinosaur top trump card games.”

The children were amazed at their Wingham adventure, which also included exploring an outdoor play area. Ted said: “I loved the dinosaurs. My favourite one was T-Rex;”

Emily asked “Can we go on a school trip every day?”; while Lily said quite simply :“I love the tigers.”

Miss Cheshire added:

“Going on a school trip helps to give the children a purpose for their learning. It creates enthusiasm for the new topic we are going to be covering. It also created a sense of awe and wonder for the pupils.”

Chilton Primary School is part of the Viking Academy Trust with Upton Junior School in Broadstairs and Ramsgate Arts Primary School.